We’re in this very uncomfortable position again, of waiting for men who don’t have a track record of necessarily making decisions that support peace, to try and calibrate their response in a way that they think will shore up their military position without letting things or forcing things to escalate further,
Haniyeh presented a pragmatic face to the mediators but internally inside Hamas led a hard line,
We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena,
Israel is highly prepared for any scenario, both defensively and offensively,
Yahya Sinwar is the commander... and he is a dead man."
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was a moderate because he gave Israel the option of peacefully dissolving itself, opening its borders to millions of hostile immigrants, changing its name to Palestine, incorporating Hamas's military into the state's army, and accepting Islamic law."
If Ismail Haniyeh was 'moderate and pragmatic' as every media outlet claims, that means his open Jew-hate and repeated calls for the violent destruction of Israel are a 'moderate and pragmatic' position to hold. And what does that tell us about the status of Jews today."
Within Hamas Haniyeh had a certain position, but within this organization which is not a moderate one."
It certainly and completely depends on the perceptions of who you talk to. Obviously, the Israelis and the U.S. consider all of Hamas, including its leadership as extremist, they consider the organization a terrorist organization. And many of them are not willing to enter into a conversation about 'is this person more moderate than the other?'
He's a hard-liner, no doubt, but he's a politician so he's a good negotiator and he's more pragmatic,
What is a 'very moderate leader' of an Islamist jihadist death cult that perpetrated the deadliest terror attack since 9/11 on October 7? Alex Crawford, what on earth are you talking about?"
He was also considered a very moderate leader for Hamas."
It is too soon to tell what the impact of his death will have on negotiations (for a ceasefire deal in Gaza), and so I'm not going to speculate on that, especially in light of the broader dynamics and set of events unfolding in the region right now,
But I also discovered a long history of profound — and often rancorous — internal debates over how the state should be preserved. Can a nation use the methods of terrorism? Can it harm innocent civilians in the process? What are the costs? Where is the line?"
The government of Israel employs a policy of preventative strikes which cause the death of terrorists,
It is decided that it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is prohibited according to customary international law,
These strikes at times also harm innocent civilians. Does the state thus act illegally
From what we gather, it is the political leadership based in Doha, headed by Haniyeh, that... has been pressing Sinwar... to accept a ceasefire,
Hamas broadly speaking will not be affected, as it has plenty of leadership material”.
Haniyeh has been a moderating force... His removal could embolden hardliners within the movement,